THREE RHINE-MAIDENS
[Swimming gracefully round the cliff together.
Heia jaheia!
Heia jaheia!
Wallala la la la leia jahei!
Rhinegold!
Rhinegold!
Radiant delight,
How glorious and glad thy smile,
Over the water
Shooting effulgence afar!
Heia jahei!
Heia jaheia!
Waken, friend!
Wake in joy!
That we may please thee,
Merry we'll play,
Waters afire,
Billows aflame,
As, blissfully bathing,
Dancing and singing,
We dive and encircle thy bed!
Rhinegold!
Rhinegold!
Heia jaheia!
Heia jaheia!
Wallala la la la heia jahei!
[With increasing mirthful abandonment the maidens swim round the rock. The water is filled with a glimmering golden light.
ALBERICH
[Whose eyes, strongly attracted by the radiance, stare fixedly at the gold.
What is it, sleek ones,
That yonder gleams and shines?
THE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS
Where dost thou hail from, O churl,
Of the Rhinegold not to have heard?
WELLGUNDE
Knows not the elf
Of the famed eye golden
That wakes and sleeps in turn?
WOGLINDE
Of the star resplendent
Down in the depths
Whose light illumines the waves?
THE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS [Together
See how gaily
We glide in the glory!
Wouldst thou also
Be bathed in brightness,
Come, float and frolic with us!
Wallala la la leia lalei!
Wallala la la leia jahei!
ALBERICH
Has the gold no value
Apart from your games?
It were not worth getting!
WOGLINDE
He would not scoff,
Scorning the gold,
Did he but know all its wonders!
WELLGUNDE
That man surely
The earth would inherit
Who from the Rhinegold
Fashioned the ring
Which measureless power imparts.
FLOSSHILDE
Our father told us,
And strictly bade us
Guard with prudence
The precious hoard
That no thief from the water might steal it.
Be still, then, chattering fools.
WELLGUNDE
O prudent sister,
Why chide and reproach?
Hast thou not heard
That one alone
Can hope to fashion the gold?
WOGLINDE
Only the man
Who love defies,
Only the man
From love who flies
Can learn and master the magic
That makes a ring of the gold.
WELLGUNDE
Secure then are we
And free from care:
For love is part of living;
No one would live without loving.
WOGLINDE
And least of all he,
The languishing elf,
With pangs of love
Pining away.
FLOSSHILDE
I fear him not
Who should surely know,
By his savage lust
Almost inflamed.
"Mock away! Mock away!
The Niblung makes for your toy!"
WELLGUNDE
A brimstone brand
In the surging waves,
In lovesick frenzy
Hissing loud.
THE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS [Together.
Wallala! Wallaleia la la!
Join in our laughter,
Lovable elf!
In the golden glory
How gallant thy sheen!
O come, lovely one, laugh as we laugh!
Heia jaheia!
Heia jaheia!
Wallala la la la leia jahei!
[They swim, laughing, backwards and forwards in the light.
ALBERICH
[His eyes fixed on the gold, has listened attentively to the sisters rapid chatter.
Could I truly
The whole earth inherit through thee?
If love be beyond me
My cunning could compass delight?
[In a terribly loud voice.
Mock away! Mock!
The Niblung makes for your toy!
[Raging
